Finis Mitchell (1901–1995) was an American mountaineer and forester based in Wyoming. During the Depression, he and his wife stocked lakes in the Wind River Range with over 2.5 million trout. He served in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1955 to 1958. At the age of 67 he retired from his job as a railroad foreman and dedicated himself full-time to exploring and writing about the Wind River Range of mountains.

Over the course of his life, Mitchell climbed all but 20 of the 300 peaks in the range. At the age of 73, while on a glacier, he twisted his knee in a snow-covered crevasse. He hacked crude crutches out of pine wood and hobbled 18 miles to find a doctor, and was able to resume climbing until the age of 84, when further injury to the knee from a fall put an end to his solo climbing career.

In 1975, he published a guidebook to the range called Wind River Trails, and in 1977, the University of Wyoming gave him an honorary doctorate. Congress named the mountain Mitchell Peak after him — one of the few landforms to ever be named after a living American.

Baidarka is the name sometimes used for an Aleutian style sea kayak. A prominent feature of a baidarka is its forked bow (bifurcated bow). Very lightweight and maneuverable, it was made out of seal skin sewed only by Aleut women, over a frame made strictly of driftwood (since no trees grow in the Aleutian Islands), bone and sinew. It was treated as a living being by Aleut men (it was taboo for women to handle them).

George Dyson, son of astrophysicist Freeman Dyson, is often credited with the revival of the baidarka, through his company Dyson, Baidarka & Company, though Dyson’s Baidarkas are made from modern materials such as aluminium for the frame and coated polyester fabric for the skin.. Dyson and his boats were the subject of Kenneth Brower’s book The Starship and the Canoe, a book I just finished reading and the obvious reason for this post. Brower’s story chronicles Freeman, who is trying to build an inexpensive spaceship to travel the cosmos, and George, who is living in a tree in British Columbia, building a kayak to travel the coast. Awful title, wonderful book.

There are few things in this world that make me happier than Van Morrison. And while my head has a faint pounding to it this morning, a result of the Celebration Alesthat accompanied last night’s dinner of veggie burgers and slices of pecan pie, this clip of Van doing “Warm Love” (a clip that was gone from Youtube for a while) is the world’s best Advil.

Emma Rowena Gatewood, better known as Grandma Gatewood, was the first woman to hike the Appalachian Trail. She did it in 1955 at the age of 67, wearing Keds sneakers and carrying an army blanket, a raincoat, and a plastic shower curtain which she carried in a homemade bag slung over one shoulder.

In 1909 the Duke of the Abruzzi attempted K2. Although he didn’t get the summit, his expedition photographer, Vittorio Sella, captured some of the most beautiful mountain images in history. A century afterward, Fabiano Ventura traveled to the Karakoram to re-create these and other legendary shots. Along the way, he uncovered visual proof that the world’s glaciers are shrinking.

If you’ve been on this blog more than once and you’ve never seen an ALPINIST, do yourself a favor and chalk up the 12.99 to buy one.

While paying for a taco this weekend after a nice hike across Fire Island, I found a Lewis and Clark nickel at the bottom of my pocket. I can honestly say I had no idea that these existed, and while it’s not the most exciting thing in the world, it is a handsome coin. O, the joy.